Submissions are now open for Volume IX of the F&M Alumni Arts Review. Our theme this year is BOUND. We very much look forward to your interpretations of this most interesting and multi-faceted word. (See below, under the bio examples, for a few ideas.) Deadline: Sunday, DECEMBER 1, 2019, 11:59 PM.

DID YOU GRADUATE FROM Franklin & Marshall College? You must be an F&M alum to submit to the Review. There is no point in sending us your work if you did not graduate from F&M. 

For guidelines regarding specific genres, please review the categories provided on this website.

We happily accept simultaneous submissions, but let us know immediately if the work is accepted elsewhere. 

With your submission, please make sure your name is written as you'd like it to appear throughout the Review (for instance, you may want to include your maiden name, so that, if your work is included in the Review, classmates might recognize you). 

We also ask for a physical address and a way to contact you by email (PLEASE BE SURE IT'S AN EMAIL YOU USE; we've had alums miss out on being published because they didn't receive our acceptance note!). 

You are welcome to write a short cover letter, and please be sure to include a brief bio. (You'll find Bio Guidelines and samples following the description on this year's theme.)

Thank you for your interest in the F&M Alumni Arts Review. We look forward to considering your work! (Again: YOU MUST BE A GRADUATE OF FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE to submit to the Review.)

Now: To this year's theme:

For our ninth and final volume we’re going for a word that has a multiplicity of uses and meanings, including that of leaping buildings in a single—

—BOUND.  As a verb, bound is “to walk or run with leaping strides”; the noun describes a “leaping movement upward.” I just love that it comes from a French word meaning ‘resound’, which descends, curiously, from the Latin for ‘humming.’ To hum and to bound! Or rebound!

There’s another, darker, meaning of the word, one from which “boundary” comes: a bound, or bounds (noun), is a territorial limit; it also means a limitation or restriction on feeling or action. In this sense the word offers ideas to do with being enclosed, or to place limits on, restrict. In sports we might say, “out of bounds.” Or an artist might move beyond the bounds of the expected. This usage of the word descends from the Middle English for ‘landmark’ or ‘borderland.’ 

And there’s yet a third definition: the idea of heading toward a specified place: homeward bound, or bound for glory. Or that one is likely to have a specified experience: She’s bound to fail. He’s bound to have a grand time.

Of course, “bound” brings up images of, well, bondage. In this usage, bound is the past tense of the verb bind. Indeed, tying people and things up—figuratively, literally—is a very powerful meaning of the word. Which can also lead to unbinding—to becoming unbounded:

Bound as the past tense of bind also—conversely—offers the notion of union: bound together. There’s also tying or fastening (something) tightly—a bandage around a shin, a roof rack to a car, arms around a child. Which leads to the idea of a vow: a legal or contractual obligation, or being obliged in some way by law, circumstances, duty—or love: as we might be bound to our alma mater.  

Submissions are now open! Deadline is Sunday, 11:59 p.m. DECEMBER 1st, 2019. 

BIO GUIDELINES: 

Your graduating year follows your name (Joe Smith '76); include your major and write about yourself in the 3rd person. Limit: 75 words. We encourage you to include contact info if you like (email and/or website); these count as one word each. 

Example 1: Marcie Doe ’10 majored in English with a concentration in creative writing. Excellent Press recently brought out her second book of poetry, and in 2012 , she was a finalist for Significant Poetry's annual contest. Her poetry can be read, her books purchased, and her email address found (and she hopes you'll read/purchase/write) at www.marciedoe.com.  

Example 2: Edward Jones ‘57 continues to explore the artistic territory to which he was introduced in a much-loved photography course with Professor Right. He majored in business administration and minored in classics, and enjoyed a fruitful career with a Washington, D.C. advertising agency. Now retired, he lives with his wife, Holly Smith-Jones ’59, on the Chesapeake Bay, where they love to walk their dogs. Be in touch! ed&hollyjones@email.com. 

Questions? Write to aareditor@fandm.edu.